


The First Witcheress

by Witch_Of_Letters



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Luck, Blood and Violence, F/M, Family Secrets, Fate, Hidden Depths, Prophecy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-29 20:25:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12638541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witch_Of_Letters/pseuds/Witch_Of_Letters
Summary: When you feel the fire burning at your fingertips, does it hurt or does it make you feel the heat of the hell you were thrown into? Everyone has their own story to tell but mine isn't a tale to be passed down to next generations. It is a warning to those who want to fight the deadly creatures who plague different kingdoms and nations. Witcher's life isn't for everyone, and that is the bottom line.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there, my dear readers! Don't really know why I'm starting with new series right now but I just felt the need to write this, since there are so little fanfics with Geralt/Reader pairing. I sincerely hope you'll all enjoy this, and feel free to point out any grammatical mistakes you see in the text (I'm not a native English speaker after all). :D

_Everything was quiet. Too quiet. It was as if the Griffin School turned into a graveyard, where no sound could be heard except your own breathing and occasional raven croaking in the distance. You, Y/N of Cidaris, were sleeping soundly in your bed when you heard something scraping the stone walls in the hall. Since you were only 7 years old, your curiosity was naturally piqued, and so you decided to quietly open the door and peek outside. There was no-one around. Everyone was sleeping in their bedroom, resting from the hardships of a Witcher’s life._

_Since you were very little, you have been training under different Witchers, who slowly but surely were shaping you into a deadly weapon - a force that was to be reckoned with, but you were indeed unique in your own way. You weren’t the first female trying to join an order of monster hunters but you were certainly the only one currently training to become a Witcheress in your own right. Your only friend was Axel Dorne, a handsome looking man with quite the sense of humour, who looked after you as if you were his daughter by blood. Frankly, his witty and excited demeanor had grown on you, for you were often the one to leave others speechless with your innocent but at the same time witty responses. Unfortunately for you, you were only allowed to read books about various creatures that plagued the lands, and watch sparring matches from afar. That made you a bit disappointed but you knew that in time you would learn all the secrets, combat techniques, alchemy recipes, and spells a Witcher had in his arsenal._

_Once again the sound of scraping took you out of your reverie, and your eyes snapped to a bulky looking door, far at the end of the hall. You knew a lot about monsters for your age, but because you were still a little girl, you started to feel scared about what could await you behind that door. You quickly tiptoed to it and pressed your ear against the rough wood. Hearing nothing on the other side, you wrapped your tiny hands around the door handle, and gently pulled it down. It was all your luck that helped you open it soundlessly. You were a bit bewildered when you saw nothing but darkness in front of you. Wanting to investigate further, you stepped down the stairs leading to the courtyard. Silently you prayed that no-one would catch you wandering the castle alone at night._

_Finally reaching the end of the staircase, you started smelling something nasty and burnt in the air. Without a torch on you, you could easily spot something glowing in the far end of the courtyard. Your mind didn’t want you to step any further and turn back, but your body seemed to have gained free will, for it started to bring you closer to the source of the glow. When you finally reached it, you saw the stables burning but no horses were inside (or so you thought), otherwise you would have heard them screaming in pain. Water. You needed water but where could you get a bucketful of it when the well was closed with a wooden lid and an iron lock on it? Not being able to think of something else, you started screaming for help, knowing that at least one of the sleeping Witchers would hear you from upstairs. Soon enough, all of them came running towards where you stood._

_“What happened, Y/N?” said Axel with worry. You frowned and pointed to the still burning stables. His eyes widened and he turned to the others, yelling at them to open the well, and bring water. They nodded and ran off to do the task given to them. When the burning stables were splashed with water, the fire didn’t extinguish but continued to burn._

_“This is no ordinary fire! Water from the well will do nothing to it!” shouted the Head Witcher Santago._

_“Does anyone in here have an idea how to deal with it?! If it’s no ordinary fire, we should battle it with magic!” exclaimed one the younger Witchers. Almost everyone nodded. Axel didn’t seem to exactly share their opinion._

_“Do you see any sorcerers around?! We are Witchers, we do not wield magic like they do!” You saw the fire spreading to the nearby banners. It consumed them quickly, leaving only piles of grey and black ashes behind. You started to feel panicked and scared. Numerous lessons about magic and its uses didn’t teach you how to stop magical fires. Axel seemed to notice your shaking figure, and without hesitation took you into his arms and started running back towards the keep. When the two of you reached the door to the keep’s basement, he set you down on the ground. The look you gave him was full of confusion. He gave you a small but at the same time sad reassuring smile._

_“Y/N, listen to me. When I open this door, you will run downstairs, take a torch from the wall, and run again towards the end of the tunnel in front of you. No delays and no wrong turns. Do you understand me, little duck?” You looked at the door leading to the basement, and then at him. You gulped but grimly nodded._

_“I will, Axel, but what about you?”_

_“I have to tell Santago that you are safe. After that, I will run back to you. I’m not leaving you alone, not when you’re so young!” You could only give him a brief hug._

_“Please be quick!” He opened the door and gently pushed you in. There was only darkness before you. From what little spells you knew, you conjured up a small glowing sphere of light. It wasn’t as light as a torch would be, but at the very least it would light up the staircase before you. Even though you were a dozen steps down, you could still hear the Witchers’ shouts from above. You only prayed that they were all okay._

_A few moments later you finally reached the big basement chamber. As the sphere glowed right beside you, you could only see a couple of tables with pots and knives in front of you. Turning back to the task at hand, you took one of the lit torches on the wall into your shaking hands, and proceeded walking forward towards the tunnel as Axel had instructed. The smell in there was almost unbearable. You guessed that some of your fellow brothers butchered a creature in there and left it to rot. Good thing there were no bones littered on the ground for you to stumble upon. Reaching the end of the tunnel, you saw a portcullis blocking your path. Unfortunately, you weren’t tall enough to reach the lever right next to it. You looked around and couldn’t see anything that would help you reach. If only you knew the aard spell…_

 

_**Narrator’s P.O.V.** _

_Axel ran back to the courtyard to tell Santago that Y/N was safe. He wondered what had happened those ten minutes before. Who burned down the stables with the horses inside? Somekind of horse-hater? No, he had to put these thoughts away for now. Reaching the Head Witcher was a top priority right then. From the windows in the hall he saw the whole courtyard consumed with bright orange-yellow fire, burning everything it reached to the ashes. Witchers around screamed in agony because some of them had gotten trapped trying to save younger ones. The picture Axel saw in front of him was like a nightmare come alive. Never in his 35 years of life had he seen something so agonizing, so damn frightening...But he had to turn his gaze away and focus on finding his long-time friend and mentor._

_“Goddammit, Santago! Where the hell are you?!” he screamed, the sound echoing off the walls around him. Soon, he spotted a wounded Witcher lying against the door of a bedroom a bloody sword in his gut._

_“What happened, Karonel?! Where is ev-” he was interrupted._

_“Listen to me, Dorne. Santago is dead. He tried to fight him but he got burned by the fire...The Night Watcher git away with the amulet…” the wounded man was struggling to finish the sentence because he had started coughing up blood. Axel was confused. What Night Watcher was he talking about? And Santago dead? This was truly a nightmare._

_“If Santago is dead then....I should go back to Y/N, protect her.” The Witcher smiled a sad smile._

_“Our little Y/N, always so curious and cheery...Tell her that...I-no we are proud to have taken her in and known her for as long as we did…” Axel took the dying man’s hand in his._

_“I will, brother, I will…” With that the man took his last breath and closed his eyes. He shouldn’t have died that way, Axel thought. Witchers were immune against many things like diseases and infecrions but not against magic or fire._

_Axel run back to where he left Y/N, and saw that the door was left closed. It meant that she was safe down there. He went downstairs with a lit torch, and then to the tunnel he had mentioned to her before he left. She was sitting on the ground with her back against the wall._

_“You couldn’t leave your old man behind, now could you?” Axel joked a little. Y/N’s little head snapped towards him, and a happy smile lit up on her face._

_“You’re back!” She hugged him with all her might._

_“I am, little duck, but listen to me. Once we lift the portcullis, we will run to the wagon filled with books outside. I was supposed to bring them Vizima next week, so I filled it yesterday. Do you understand?”_

_“I do, Axel but what about the others? What about uncle Santago and little Kemstrel?!” He didn’t know how to answer her question. For God’s sake, she was only seven! He opted to tell her the half-truth._

_“He can’t come with us. He and Kemstrel need to protect the castle.” Y/N didn’t seem to have believed him in the slightest._

_“They’re dead, aren’t they?” she said sadly. She was one the smartest people in here, even though she was very young. Axel couldn’t help but be proud of her._

_“I’m sorry, little duck. There was nothing I could do to save them.”_

_“Yes, you’re right. But we have to move now or the fire will consume us as well!” With that Y/N stood up and waited for Axel to pull down the lever. The mechanisms of the portcullis groaned and creaked but worked perfectly in the end. Soon, the two of them reached the aforementioned wagon with books in it. Axel took Y/N into his strong arms, and put her onto driver’s seat, and then sat right beside her. The journey into the night was sure to be a long one...._


	2. Reminiscing the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You don't have to like your job in order to get the money you need. Fortunately for me, they were almost always fun, but it didn't mean I didn't get pissed by annoying things.

_You’ve got to be kidding me…_ A piece of pork flew right over your head and landed on the wooden floor eight feet away from you. Once you stepped your foot inside that dingy tavern, you started nursing your growing headache, which wasn’t that strong truth be told. You’ve been in such taverns countless amount of times, and this picture of loud clientele and fighting drunkards in front of you wasn’t so unfamiliar. _If only Axel were here…_

Ever since Axel had left you alone at the age of twenty, you’ve been struggling to feel comfortable in such places as this. Whenever he brought you along inside a nice inn or a tavern, you felt safe and protected from any and all threats, but of course, it wasn’t true. Monsters naturally preferred to lurk outside cities but not too far away from people. For all you knew, one of them could be sitting right beside you, but then again such monsters with an ability to appear human were rare, and thus it was safe to say that nothing too dangerous would come closer to you. Except for a drunken brute with a sharpened axe maybe…

A nice-looking wench brought you a tankard full of Kaedwenian stout beer, and without any hesitation, you quickly swallowed the beverage. _Ahhhh, what could be better than a good cold mug of beer…Maybe fighting a big manticore with my silver chain on fire…_ A sound of someone loudly placing a mug of ale on a bar counter before you brought you out of your thoughts. Turning your head to the right, you saw that it was your informant and a very old friend, Oswin.

“How long did it take you to get here?” you started the conversation. He casually ordered another drink before turning his gaze upon you.

“Five days, actually. Whenever you ask for an express delivery of information, I quickly gather my things and ride to you as fast as my horse can run. You know that.” He took a big gulp of his drink. Oswin was a dwarf whom you met 16 years ago when you were travelling to Brugge with your adoptive father, Axel. He wasn’t a merchant or anything, he was a simple hunter, who just happened to be nearby when you two tried to take down a pack of barghests in a forest. Since then, he’s become a very close friend of yours. You swear you could call him your best friend now. Unfortunately, though, you didn’t really have time to talk with him about his and yours’ adventures on the Continent. You had a job to complete.

“I do Oswin, but now that you’ve finally come here, can you give me the information on Kraggenwester? That old hag in man’s skin is starting to get on my nerves.” You looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to your conversation, not even the barkeep.

“Alright, I asked around, and people said that he has been struggling to pay the taxes. More than likely he will move around again, so I suggest you confront him as quickly as possible.” You raised an eyebrow.

“You, my old friend, forgot to mention his address. How do you think I’m supposed to find him in a sea full of people? I’m not a sorceress, I can’t cast any tracking spells, and since I’m not a real witcher either, I don’t have any enhanced senses to track him down like a predator does with its prey.” He snorted a laugh. _Oh, so now it’s all amusing to you._

“Relax, Y/N, he lives by the eastern city gates, near the dwarven smith Lokar. There’s also a little bird scraped on the door frame. It should be easy for you to spot it.” “Good. I’ll deal with him tonight then.” Having finished his second drink, Oswin started eating the pork with potatoes in front of him. _I hope it isn’t the same pork that was thrown onto the floor._

“And like I said, be quick about it. You might not get any other chance to kill him.”

“I’ll try to be, Oswin. If anything doesn’t go according to the plan, I’ll just have to do what, track him down again?” Now he laughed with food in his mouth as if this place wasn’t disgusting enough.

“Plan? What plan? You never make any plans, unless the target is something major like a vampire coven or three giant chimeras. Don’t kid yourself, girl.”

“True enough, I suppose. Now, I better get on my way before that hag thinks of fleeing from me again.” You patted Oswin on the back a couple of times, gathered your things, and went outside into the street full of peasants and whatnot running past you to get their tasks done. You heard your friend shouting a ‘Goodbye, Y/N! See you soon!’ from inside the tavern. Mentally saying your goodbye, you continued walking down the busy street, listening to the various pieces of gossip. Sometimes informants weren’t needed, you could just as easily get some info on a person by listening to old women talk.

‘Did you really hear him say that?’, ‘He is a moron I say!’, ‘If the plague continues to spread, we won’t have any people left to buy silks from us!’, ‘The man has been inside his house for weeks now. Soon enough, the guards will deal with him. It’ll be good to finally have a place of our own!’ The last piece of gossip caught your attention. _So he’s been holed up in his house for weeks now? No surprises there. I just hope he doesn’t smell like shit…_

Children were running past you, playing a game of tag. Despite having grown up into a life of fighting monsters, you couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened, had you never been taken in by the witchers. It’s not that you didn’t have a good childhood, it just wasn’t as normal as anyone else’s. Witchers are trained from a very young age because there’s a lot to learn and memorize by heart like fighting styles and techniques, information about different creatures, and so on, but that being said, you couldn’t imagine yourself living someone else’s life – a life of endless days of taking care after the livestock or trying to stay alive in courts full of snakes. No, a witcher’s dangerous life was far better, even though you couldn’t exactly call it the best due to the amount of insults received from the peasants, who get the scares whenever they see a guy with cat-like eyes and two long swords on his back. _Yes, a guy because no female witchers exist. For now at least._ Ever since you came of age, you begged Axel to send into one of the remaining schools: The Wolf School. There were only a handful of members left but it didn’t mean you couldn’t have a chance to join them. He didn’t give you any consent to go there though, only said that it wasn’t necessary for you to become a witcher in order to fight evil monsters. Back then you didn’t really understand it, you weren’t sure you would be able to survive an encounter with a creature without any mutations, but now…Now you were strong enough to slay a horde of ghouls or drowners because over the years you’ve built up quite the strength and endurance, and you absolutely loved your strong ‘killer’ thighs and womanly curves. Oh indeed, you could kill a man by smothering him with your thighs alone. After all, the dead don’t object the means of how their life ended, unless they are raised up from their graves by the necromancers. But enough about that, Kraggenwester awaited you.

When you finally reached his run-down house, you saw that the lights were on. You didn’t jump to conclusions and instead, you carefully peeked inside one of the windows. Nothing, but it doesn’t mean he’s not there. You will not run away from me this time! Deciding that alerting the citizens by picking the lock of a front door wasn’t a good idea, you calmly went around the house and checked if any of the windows were open (i.e not locked from the inside). The windows on the first floor weren’t but on the second…Huh, it looks like I can open it if enough force is applied. Just have to scale the wall…Since you were well trained in free climbing, it didn’t take you long to reach your destination. Putting your hands on the window frame, you started pulling it up. Surprisingly, you didn’t have to use a lot of force to open it. _Well, that went well…_

Kraggenwester was sitting in his study and quietly studying the ancient scrolls of magic he acquired from an ‘associate’ of his. “Fascinating!” he said as he finished reading another passage on an aged parchment. Nothing could stop him from learning the secrets of the sorcerers of old, he thought. “Now, I just need to-” he was interrupted by someone knocking on his door from downstairs. “This better not be another visit of those pesky guards! I’m so damn tired of them demanding money from me!” As he opened the door, he saw that it was indeed a guard, and a senior-captain by the looks of it.

“What do you want?!” he spat at the man before him. He didn’t look amused.

“Look, you old man. If you don’t pay the taxes today, your old arse will be thrown out onto the streets, and then you’ll have to look for another shelter in the ghetto on the other side of town!” The door was immediately shut in front of the guard’s face. How dare he disrespect old Kraggenwester, a former warrior, and warlock?! He went back inside.

You heard shouting from below. _Good thing I listened to Oswin. The guards were indeed ready to throw him out of this house but now that he decided to stay inside, I must use this chance to finally get rid of that son-of-a-bitch._ Carefully placing on your feet one in front of the other, you stepped down the hall towards his study, from which a glowing light emitted. When you peeked inside the room, you that he was sitting on an uncomfortable chair with his back turned to you. You should never turn your back against the enemy. It might prove to be a fatal mistake. As you quietly crept forward, you were suddenly suspended in the air.

“Did you really think you could take me down, you little bitch!” He spun around and shouted. You struggled to get free of the spell.

“Maybe, but you have forgotten one thing,” you said with a little smirk on your face. He looked confused.

“What?”

“This!” With a cry, you spread your arms, and with a force equalling three horses, the spell surrounding you was broken. You gave him a fat triumphant smirk. The shock on his face was priceless.

“I guess I never really told you that I trained to become a witcheress,” you said.

“You fucking cunt, the stunt you just pulled off doesn’t make you an almighty warrior!”

“Oh, throwing insults now, are we?” You grabbed him by the collar. “These ancient scrolls, which are fake by the way, will obviously not make you a powerful warlock. You’re just an old hag with too much arrogance, you piece of shit!” He let out a meek sound when you stabbed him in the heart. Once you removed your dagger from his body, it turned to black ash. _Warlocks, always eager to learn new spells._ _Thankfully, I don’t have to clean that up._ Now that the job was completed, you had to inform the captain of the guard of your deed and get the reward - 600 orens. _Seems too little for killing a guy who’s been pestering innocent citizens for fifty years. He was a good at escaping the poor guards, but he couldn’t escape me, a 27-year-old woman, who wasn’t even a witcher in the first place. Guess he was getting really old. Eh, it doesn’t matter anymore, just need to get the money._

You stepped your foot outside that place. It seems, that no one was willing to pay their attention to you, which was exactly what you wanted. While the citizens of Vizima would undoubtedly be grateful, they wouldn’t really show it on the outside, and instead would look at you sideways like they always did. Sighing, you went towards the guardhouse. When men standing near the door looked at you, they immediately stepped aside to et you through. You weren’t exactly famous, but your name –no, your nickname was whispered among many. Some people said that you were almost as famous as Geralt of Rivia, the Butcher of Blaviken, was. As if I could be his rival. Maybe I would be able to bring him down in a fight, but with his mutations, he would be up on his feet within a second. Better not to test that out. The captain of the guard spotted you and immediately waved you over.

“I heard that the warlock has finally been killed. I guess it’s your doing?” You nodded.

“Mhmm, it was indeed me. Now, where’s the reward? I can’t stay in Vizima for long, have lots of other jobs to complete.” Without a word, he gave you a big pouch full of coins. You peeked inside just to make sure you were given the right thing. Not giving a goodbye, you left. Now, you had to take your loyal stallion, Jimmy, and gallop away towards the town called Ellander to the north-east of here. You prayed that the journey would be smooth.


End file.
